In the latest diverse electronic products, a touch panel with an inputting method through which a finger or an input device such as a stylus is used to contact an image displayed on a display device is applied.
The touch panel may be divided into a touch panel of a resistive layer type and a touch panel of an electrostatic capacity type. In the touch panel of a resistive layer type, a position is detected when an electrode becomes a short circuit by pressure of an input device. In the touch panel of an electrostatic capacity type, a position is detected when an electrostatic capacity between electrodes is changed by finger contact.
Referring to FIG. 4, the touch panel of a resistive layer type or the touch panel of an electrostatic capacity type includes a sensing pattern 110 formed by patterning a conductive transparent layer.
Stains or haze 120 may occur due to an etching solution used during a patterning process to form the sensing pattern 110. This is because the etching solution used for a patterning process is a strong mixed acid that is a result of adding glycolic acid or acetic acid to hydrochloric acid. Additionally, this etching solution of a strong acid may damage a conductive transparent layer and an intermediate transparent layer (e.g., a SiO2 layer) and thus a crack in the intermediate transparent layer progresses into the conductive transparent layer, so that its durability may be decreased.